After getting to her feet, Ma Xiaotao glared fiercely at Huo Yuhao, her voice trembling as she growled lowly,
"You just wait."
Having endured Huo Yuhao's repeated humiliations, she couldn't take it anymore. If she didn't say something, if she didn't vent her frustration, then the fury burning in her chest and everything she had endured in this underground room would surely become a heart demon.
Outside the chamber, Jing Hongchen frowned slightly at her threatening tone. Then he let out a cold laugh, doing nothing—just continuing to quietly observe her state.
Huo Yuhao, his expression calm and detached, replied,
"Oh? Classmate Ma, I'm helping you purge that deadly evil fire of yours. Doing such a good deed, and this is how a thankless ingrate repays me? Shouldn't you be kneeling down in gratitude, crying tears of joy?"
Ma Xiaotao's anger exploded. She gritted her teeth, restraining the urge to punch him, and shouted,
"You—!"
Before she could finish cursing, Huo Yuhao coldly interrupted her.
"Kneel. Apologize. Thank me."
Ma Xiaotao froze. 'How could I... how could I possibly kneel to a bastard like you?' But though her thoughts said one thing, her actions did another—Ma Xiaotao dropped to her knees and muttered,
"...I'm sorry, Huo Yuhao. I should be grateful to you."
Looking at her, a strange, twisted smile crept onto Huo Yuhao's lips.
Halfway through her sentence, Ma Xiaotao suddenly snapped out of it and slapped herself hard across the face. She quickly stood up, stunned by what had just happened. 'What was I even thinking just now? I actually thought Huo Yuhao was a good person? That I should be grateful he helped purge my evil fire? That he didn't do anything worse to me, so I should be thankful?'
Trying to brush off the abnormality, she told herself it must be the result of prolonged mental torment from Huo Yuhao. 'Just a tiny mental glitch... it's nothing serious. I'll be fine after a while.'
With that, she glared at Huo Yuhao just like usual and stormed out of the underground chamber in a huff.
After she left, Jing Hongchen slowly descended. Standing at the doorway of the chamber, he asked,
"Yuhao, how's it going?"
Huo Yuhao maintained his devilish, pure smile and replied via spiritual transmission,
"Everything's going smoothly. After enduring that level of psychological torment, she's already reached the point where she can obey my words to a certain degree, based on logic. If things continue this way, in a year's time, she'll be able to completely obey me without question. Heh heh..."
Jing Hongchen nodded in satisfaction. This was the result of the soul tool refined from the secret technique that Grandmaster Kong Deming had improved upon.
The original method came from the Holy Spirit Sect—infusing spiritual power into another's soul by subjecting them to continuous torture, until they unconsciously became a slave who obeyed without resistance. Kong Deming had refined this technique into a soul tool. Its effectiveness was exceptional.
"Then we wait for the good news, hahaha..."
In the dim underground chamber, Jing Hongchen's sinister laughter echoed.
The few days since the start of the exchange program had seen the internal situation of the Sun Moon Empire stabilize. Where there had once been turmoil, now there was peace. Those restless factions had quietly disappeared from view.
The old emperor's health had improved significantly in recent days. Yet, perhaps in secret, some were already making plans—waiting for the moment he passed to launch their strike.
This temporary calm left the modernized military unit under Huo Yuhao's control with little to do. Since war might be delayed for who knows how long, Yuhao decided it was time to shift focus.
Dealing with the three Shrek exchange students? That was just a side dish.
The main course—war—was nowhere in sight. A hungry Huo Yuhao needed a new main course. That's when he thought of the Holy Spirit Sect.
If there was anyone in this world destined to be the true villain of his future story, Huo Yuhao had three candidates: Xu Tiannan's faction, Shrek Academy and the Douluo Alliance, and the hardest to deal with—the Holy Spirit Sect.
Xu Tiannan was nothing to fear. He might be a future obstacle, but wouldn't pose any real threat, especially since—for the foreseeable future—their interests aligned.
Shrek Academy and the Douluo Alliance would be dealt with during the Sun Moon Empire's war of invasion.
But the Holy Spirit Sect? That was like a black box—no one knew what might suddenly emerge from it to become a deadly threat.
The dual-spirit evil soul master Ye Xishui was undoubtedly the most powerful Limit Douluo in existence, likely second only to Di Tian and his Dragon God Claw. Even the recently promoted Rank 10 soul engineer, Elder Kong, could only manage a draw with her. Neither could defeat the other.
And even without Ye Xishui, there was the sect master Zhongli Wu and the many Titled Douluo-level evil soul masters under him. A daunting force, one Huo Yuhao had to infiltrate if he wanted intelligence on their movements.
Luckily, he had necromancy—a power extremely similar to that of evil soul masters. Gaining their trust and infiltrating the Holy Spirit Sect would be easy.
The problem was, he couldn't go personally.
Too risky. Too troublesome. He still had too much to handle out in the open—how could he afford to disappear into the sect and play pretend as a Holy Son?
That's when he remembered a spell from necromancy: Necrotic Descent.
It allowed him to split off part of his soul and infuse it into a necrotic body, creating a puppet that could wield necromancy as a second self.
But splitting one's soul—something that sounded like it came straight from Voldemort's playbook—was extremely dangerous. If not for Elder Yi's assistance in suppressing the backlash, he never would've considered it.
Even so, when Huo Yuhao proposed using the spell to infiltrate the Holy Spirit Sect through a secondary body, Electrolux had fallen silent for a long while before finally saying,
"Yuhao... are you absolutely sure about this?"
Huo Yuhao nodded firmly.
"Yes, Elder Yi. If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch the cub? This is the safest option. That murderous sect is hiding right in my backyard. If I don't investigate them from the inside, how can I protect myself—or the people I care about?"
(End of Chapter)
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